AIL round-up: St Mary’s hold off Clontarf comeback on day of eye-catching results
Where to start? On a glorious October day, the Energia All-Ireland League rained tries and thrillers, with hexes extended and surprises plentiful among some truly eye-catching results. St Mary’s withstood a thunderous second-half comeback by Clontarf in front of a large and rapt Templeville Road crowd to repeat their win in last May’s final. Dan Goggin’s try, to augment earlier efforts by Richie Bergin and Conor Pierce, earned Mary’s a 33-14 interval lead and Mick O’Gara’s fifth penalty in a 21-point haul had them 36-19 ahead. But the prolific Dylan Donnellan scored three of Tarf’s five tries before Mary’s repelled one final attack. “We played some great rugby in the first half,” said Mary’s head coach Mark McHugh. “But they’re an excellent side and have a great scrum, lineout, maul and pick-and-goes. If there had been another five minutes there was only one winner, so we’re delighted. But I’m glad we don’t have to play them for another eight months.” Where to continue? All the other four wins were standout results. After a summer turnover and opening thumping at home to Old Belvedere, Young Munster travelled to Lakelands Park and stunned a stacked Terenure side for a fifth successive time. Terenure laid siege early on, but Oisín Minogue won a turnover, Munsters went wide on their own line, Ihechi Oji broke clear and Tom Waters scored. Seán French levelled matters, Waters scored again before Aran Egan converted his own try and made it 17-14 past the hour. But a monster Munster maul earned a 78th-minute penalty try and they were pushing for a bonus point at the end. Munsters coach Ger Slattery said: “We didn’t make many changes but Luke Murphy had a great game and credit to the guys who’ve stuck with us, like Alan Kennedy, Fintan Coleman and Kelvin Langan. We can take huge confidence from this.” Similarly, after last season’s double, UCD again stunned Lansdowne 43-26 at the UCD Bowl. With some good launches from scrum and lineout, and a big performance from Arthur Ashmore, Maxim Aschenbrenner and Charlie Molony both scored twice, while Paddy Clancy contributed 23 points in a kicking masterclass. Old Belvedere joined them as the early pacesetters after an emphatic 56-10 win over Ballynahinch at Ollie Campbell Park, with Robbie Russell scoring four of their eight tries and Sam Wisniewski crossing twice and landing five conversions in their respective 20-point hauls. Last but not least, Old Wesley registered a first win in 1A for three decades by beating Cork Constitution 36-33 at Energia Park. Páidí Farrell crossed twice for Wesley, with Tom Larke’s 79th-minute penalty decisive. In 1B, Nenagh Ormond and Blackrock College maintained unbeaten starts, while Trinity scored six tries to defeat Garryowen 46-22. Cashel and Corinthians lead 2A after 36-29 and 26-19 wins away to Queen’s and Greystones, Dominic Williams’s injury-time try securing all five points for the Galway side. Remarkably, Clogher Valley, Malone, Ballyclare, Skerries and newcomers Enniskillen lead a five-way tie on maximum points in 2B North, suggesting the IRFU’s 2B and 2C carve-up has not worked. Weekend results Energia AIL Men’s Division 1A: Old Belvedere 56 Ballynahinch 10; Old Wesley 36 Cork Con 33; St Mary’s College 36 Clontarf 31; Terenure College 17 Young Munster 21; UCD 43 Lansdowne 26. Division 1B: Dublin University 46 Garryowen 22; Instonians 7 Highfield 24; MU Barnhall 23 City of Armagh 22; Nenagh Ormond 31 Naas 21; UCC 26 Blackrock College 31. Division 2A: Galwegians 19 Shannon 25; Greystones 19 Corinthians 26; Queen’s Univeristy 29 Cashel 36; UL Bohemian 28 Ballymena 31; Wanderers 25 Dungannon 31. Division 2B North: Banbridge 26 Skerries 31; Malahide 19 Enniskillen 31; Navan 17 Clogher Valley 38; Rainey 12 Ballyclare 36; Sligo 7 Malone 36; Division 2B South: Bruff 7 Bective Rangers 57; Clonmel 43 Dolphin 21; Enniscorthy 7 Thomond 55; Midleton 58 Buccaneers 0; Old Crescent 44 Monkstown 31.